The 56th MediaSnackers podcast interviews the star and creator of Dylans Couch.
(WORLD) The MediaSnackers podcast focusses on individuals, organisations or companies who are simply impressing us and which are crying out for more discussion.
Dylan is the face of Dylan’s Couch, a typical 13 year old with a podcast.
0.00—0.10 Intro
0.11—0.46 Dylan introduces himself and Dylan’s Couch
0.47—1.15 where the stories come from
1.16—1.56 inspiration behind Dylan’s Couch
1.57—2.23 favourite episode?
2.24—3.15 what other vodcasts Dylan likes
3.16—3.39 what his friends think
3.40—4.17 how Dylan feels about the community he’s created around his vodcasts
4.18—5.16 how long it takes to do an episode
5.17—5.37 the future
5.38—6.16 other digital activities
6.17—7.14 the new generation of digital producers
7.15—7.50 who else is involved and their roles
7.51—8.12 thanks/outro
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TRANSCRIPTION
DK: Okay, so I’m here with Dylan. Welcome Dylan. If you could tell us a bit about yourself – where you’re from and what Dylanscouch.com is all about please.
Dylan: Okay, well I’m Dylan. I’m from the East Coast of the United States. We started Dylan’s Couch in October, October 1st and it’s just about a regular 13-year old with his regular life and all the bad things that had happened to him but see how he gets out of it.
DK: So it’s like an online diary in some form, isn’t it?
Dylan: Yeah.
DK: Okay man. And how autobiographical are the stories? Are they written from real life?
Dylan: Well, yeah. Well, they’re based on things that have happened to me but it’s kind of really like slimly based. Like nothing happens exactly how it happens in the show but I’ve known people or something that’s happened to me that’s like the show.
DK: Okay man. So what was the inspiration behind setting yourself up and setting up Dylan’s Couch then? Why did you do it?
Dylan: Well, I’ve been watching YouTube for a while and I really liked the idea. And I saw how all these kids were doing their own little podcasts, so I thought it was a great idea. So I had been talking to this film director before and I’ve been in two other movies with her, one when I was five and the other when I was ten. And I told her some of the stories that had been going on with me lately and she decided maybe we should start our own little podcast on YouTube. So that’s how it all started really.
DK: Wow. And you’ve done five, up to five now and I’ve got to say, I’ve watched them all; really funny. The iPod is probably the funniest one for me.
Dylan: Oh yeah, thanks.
DK: And probably got the funniest blooper as well on there.
Dylan: Oh yeah.
DK: Have you got a favourite episode and why?
Dylan: I don’t really have a favourite that much. Every single one that comes out I always think that’s my favourite but then another one comes out and then I’m like, oh man, that’s really a good one you know.
DK: Okay man and you touched on the fact that you’ve seen other kind of young people on the net; on YouTube doing all this stuff.
Dylan: Yeah.
DK: And that was the reasons why you decided ‘yeah I can do it’. So what other stuff are you looking at on the web? And like you say, you’re watching other people podcasting. Are there any kind of favourites out there that you’ve taken inspiration from?
Dylan: Well there’s this one person on YouTube called Digital Filmmaker and he has created these two different shows. The one’s called ‘Hope is Email’ and then another one is called ‘Ask a Ninja’ and I always thought that those were pretty funny. And they’re re-occurring podcasts and people just ask questions to the Ninja and he’ll answer them. So I’ve been watching that for a while now. And there are other kids on there. The ones Disari and I watch all of his stuff on YouTube.
DK: Okay. Wow. And what about your friends? They obviously know that you’re doing this and they watch your stuff. what is their opinion of you and have you become like a mini celebrity yet?
Dylan: Well, I’ve talked to some of my friends about it and they think it’s really funny. And I’ve also met a lot of new friends who think it’s funny. So I don’t really call myself a celebrity yet but a lot of people know about it and they’ve been watching it for a while now.
DK: That’s great. Now I found you on YouTube, you know just surfing and clicking through. And I know your videos are up there. I went on there this morning and saw they’ve been watched nearly 2,000 times.
Dylan: Yeah.
DK: People are obviously watching them; they’re commenting on them. How does that make you feel when you can just throw stuff out there and people can comment and tell a you how much they like that stuff?
Dylan: That’s one of my most favourite feelings in the world I think. It’s great just to see how my subscribers rise and I have to talk to all of them in my messages and comments and I get to see their viewpoints. And that’s just the thing about it that makes me feel really happy whenever I get a new message and I get to talk to them about it.
DK: Yeah. How long does it take to do an episode of Dylan’s Couch?
Dylan: Okay well, first you just get the lights up which is about maybe ten minutes long. And then I start memorizing the script which doesn’t take too long because I’m a pretty good memorizer. And then maybe two hours of filming the show and then we’ll bring the key camera up to the computer and then we’ll start editing it. And that might take around four hours because we want to get the best shot possible. And you know we do a lot of like that cut away stuff, like quick changes of views. And we like to get that as down as possible. And once we get that done, we then have to put it on YouTube. And then we put it on our other website, Dylanscouch.com. And then that’s the end of it.
DK: That sounds great. Are you going to be keeping doing these for the foreseeable future or have you got any other projects in the pipeline?
Dylan: I think I’m going to be doing this for a very long time. I really don’t know of anything else I’m going to be doing lately. I’m mostly just about Dylan’s Couch right now. That’s my main focus.
DK: And do you do any other stuff in terms of – you’re obviously creating a podcast but do you do other stuff like digital media to do like – what else are you into you know?
Dylan: Yeah. I’ve actually tried to start making a vlog right now. I haven’t posted it on YouTube yet but I made my first one a while ago and I’m still working on that because it’s totally different from Dylan’s Couch. I’m trying to think of stuff to talk about sometimes but I want to keep some of the stuff for Dylan’s Couch, so I don’t want to talk about too much stuff. And it’s different though because it’s not exactly the same person sitting on Dylan’s Couch but it is a lot like me.
DK: Right.
Dylan: Yeah.
DK: Okay, man. That sounds fun. So how do you think about like when you see and view other people’s videos and they’re the same age as you and you kind of think, wow this is a new generation. For me you know I’m a bit older and I look at you guys and you’re making videos, you’re throwing it up online and the whole world can see what you’re doing. Do you have an opinion about that because obviously you’ve grown up with this stuff? You kind of don’t know different, whereas we do.
Dylan: I think it’s really great because you don’t need to go to Hollywood anymore and have to put this stuff up and you need an editor and all that stuff. You can just get a camera right away, put some stuff up on YouTube and people will just see it right away; like people from all over the world. You don’t even make a movie anymore or a short film and try to get someone to produce it for you. You know what I mean?
DK: Yeah man. And who else is involved? Is it only you doing Dylan’s Couch or is anybody else involved in it?
Dylan: It’s me and also the film director. But what we do is we split it 50/50 really. Like all the stuff that we do like if she writes the script, then I look over the script then I make any suggestions. Like I think that I wouldn’t say that or I don’t think that would ever happen to a kid my age. But I still want to be entertaining so I also ad-lib sometimes. So that’s the whole cast – it’s just me and the film director.
DK: That’s cool man. I think we’ll wrap it up there fella. I’d just like to say thank you for giving up your time to speak to MediaSnackers. I’m going to chuck all the links up so people can go in and check your stuff out and I’m sure you’ll invite them all to just make comments, wouldn’t you man?
Dylan: Yeah, thanks. Cool.
DK: Okay. Take care fella.
Dylan: You too, bye.